Number of SP52948 owners, tenants, and investors expressed gratitude towards this website as that was the only way to gain access to lot of critical information, which is not available in minutes and notices of meetings, or on Waratah Strata website.
The rest of the audience is anyone who might be interested in problems with strata schemes in NSW...
This website does not have any desire or intent to add own comments and therefore it is up to anybody to make up their own conclusions based on evidence and statements by others who did it in public forums, in courts, or elsewhere. All files on this website were provided to Fair Trading NSW, Office of legal Services Commissioner, NCAT, Supreme Court, and Police. The same files were repeatedly sent to Solicitor Adrian Mueller, committee members and strata managers - silence is their response.
Democracy should be the leading avenue for managing strata complexes. But, democracy requires high level of sense and ethics, and right for all owners to have full access to strata files in order to make informed decisions. And when that does not happen, how to proceed? One way is to educate public and rise awareness that license to be a strata manager is one of the easiest in any industry: Strata Community Australia (SCA) are offering a three-day course on qualifying to be a strata manager with no prior educational requirements (apparently educational requirements are fulfilled by completing the course).
SP52948 Waratah Strata Management Failure To Organize Gas Meter Replacement for Lot 158
On Tuesday, 19 July 2022, somebody who claimed to be from Jemena, left voice message on Lot 158 mobile phone asking for permission to replace gas meter.
As this was not organised through building or strata manager, Lot 158 approached their gas service provider and asked them for clarification. Service provider immediately prepared an email for Jemena and promised to notify Lot 158 as soon as a response was provided to them.
Two days later, Jemena representative called again.
This is how Lot 158 dealt with the request:
Jemena was notified that no public information existed about such work in Lot 158 or any other unit in the complex, which was different from process in April 2022, when official notice was published on notice boards, advising owners of 46 units replacing gas meters:
Jemena was asked to disclose who had provided them with mobile phone number of Lot 158. They confirmed they got it from Waratah Strata Management, which would have been an unauthorised disclosure of private information to third party.
Jemena was asked to contact strata manager to inform owners about pending gas meter replacements in the complex. Jemena tried to force Lot 158 to do it and was bluntly rejected because it was not owner's duty to chase strata manager for managing common property.
Jemena was asked to provide written request to Lot 158, explaining reasons for gas meter replacement, length of time required to do the work, proposed dates, and so on.
Jemena was notified that Lot 158 gas service provider contacted them to obtain information on behalf of Lot 158. Jemena representative claimed they had not received such request.
On 24 November 2022, Jemena staff showed up for alleged replacement of gas meter completely unannounced and left note about requirement to replace the hot water meter (Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services are silent about organising maintenance of common property):
We waited for any notification from Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services until 22 December 2022. Since nothing happened, on 22 December 2022 a call was made to Zinfra (Jemena subcontractor) technician Adam, who had visited Lot 158 on 24 November 2022.
In the meantime, it became obvious that Waratah Strata Management would not take any action due to holidays:
Phone call was made at 10:05 hours. Mr. Adam did not know anything about procedures and advised to contact Jemena on 1 300 137 078.
Whole year passed by without any action by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco property services, until we received SMS message on Friday, 8 December 2023 at 14:32 hours. It was from Zinfra (Jemena subscontractor), who were asking for date for gas meter replacement.
In Lot 158 email response on 13 December 2023, which was CC-ed to Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services, we stated the following:
Lot 158 would be happy to get gas meter replaced, as long as it were properly announced through SP52948 strata and/or building managers. They are paid to maintain common property and have duty of care to organize all site visits for repairs and upgrades, like they did for many units in our complex on 28 April 2022 (refer to attachment "SP52948-46-units-Jemena-hot-water-meter-replacement-notice-28Apr2022.jpg").
This document clearly states:
"We require Strata and Building Manager’s cooperation to facilitate contact between Jemena and our customers to arrange access to carry out necessary works."
On 28 July 2022, AGL confirmed to us that "This meter is due to be changed due to the meter aged project."
It appears Zinfra staff is not aware that Jemena and us were ignored by SP52948 strata manager (Waratah Strata Management) and building manager (Uniqueco Property Services) since 19 July 2022.
On 24 November 2022, Zinfra/Jemena staff showed up for replacement of gas meter completely unannounced and left note about requirement to replace the hot water meter.
Attachments "Jemena-Ticket-540684 -Jemena-ignored-by-strata-and-building-manager-9Jan2023.pdf" and "Jemena-Ticket-540684-incomplete-process-to -replace-gas-meter-serial-number-UA022414-17Jan2023.pdf" contain history of the problems Jemena and we experienced.
Strata manager (Waratah Strata Management) and building manager (Uniqueco Property Services) are not only creating dangers to us by not helping with the process to comply with Deemed Standard Connection Contract, but as well might be causing several other risks:
Accurate gas bills that do not disadvantage service provider due to undercharging (AGL in our case) or overcharging (SP52948 Lot 158),
Safety of the gas network (our gas meter has not been checked since October 1997 - that is 26 years of lack of actions!).
Their contact details are CC-ed herewith.
Zinfra and Jemena need to communicate with the strata and building managers so that they can complete their actions (announce your visit on notice board for us and possibly other owners in the complex, and ensure they provide access to our building on a given day), as required in their contract for managing SP52948 complex.
As soon as strata and building manager complete their work, we are happy to proceed.
Note that we are taking strata and building manager to court over continuous and repetitive problems with common property maintenance and mismanagement of the complex. Eventually, strata and building managers will have to do their work.
After few additional emails, Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco property Services finally published the following information for owners in the complex on 18 December 2023, where 18 units were listed for work. This highlights the importance of what Lot 158 did for the complex (proper procedures for managing common property):
Zinfra technician came on 22 December 2023 and finally replaced the hot water gas meter in Lot 158:
During the visit he complained that eight out of 16 owners were not availabe on the day, in spite of advance notice.
Lot 163 was upset that his unit was not included in the schedule on 22 December 2023 and was given an advice that he needed to organise it through strata or building manager.